September 22, 2012: The former president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam has taken serious interest in ways to ensure proper management of wakf properties. A delegation of Zakat Foundation of India led by its president Dr Syed Zafar Mahmood called on Dr Kalam and explained to him how the government's handling of the vital Sachar recommendation to create Indian Wakf Service has gone by default.
Under orders of the Central Information Commission, ZFI inspected the relevant files of the Ministry of Minority Affairs. It was found that the vital Sachar recommendation to create Indian Wakf Service to man the posts of CEO and other senior positions in the state wakf boards of India went by default in the Minority Affairs Ministry. The Deputy Secretary wrote on the file "This is not feasible" without giving any cogent reasons thereof. After that, at any higher level nobody enquired about the reasons for this advice. Right upto the top, this one-liner went across by default.
And, thus, the fate of wakf administration was decided by a deputy secretary's prejudicial and whimsical overriding of a former chief justice's well-considered recommendation given after consulting his expert colleagues and the entire wakf machinery in India. Dr Kalam has understood this default of the government and is likely to take up the matter with the authorities concerned.